UFO
No Heavy Petting

Gray day in Potsdam.

An ephemeral mist blurs the landscape heavy with dirty snow; the plants on the damp hills of Brandenburg stand still like weary guardians, timidly flaunting the intricate networks of their bare branches.

Full of my thoughts, I observe all this while my ears tremble to the insinuating piano notes that resonate deep in the soul, highlighting this cold and relentless landscape, all around and, perhaps, inside me. A Martian landscape that belongs to no one but influences our actions on days that sometimes turn awry in the blink of an eye.

I didn't want to start from the end, but when facing an imaginative, ethereal, and rocky moment in time, you can only passively succumb to its magnetism; “Martian Landscape” is a wonderful, hypnotic piece from the first notes and majestic in its crescendo towards territories still unexplored by man. The guitar sublimates the thoughts and gives vent to impulses; the singing is suffering yet free. An unexpected, unforeseen song; simply fantastic.

Yet, in this excellent LP that the British UFO took off in 1976, perhaps it is not even the most successful episode; but let's proceed in order: for them, “No Heavy Petting,” released under the Chrysalis label, is the fifth studio work overall, as well as the third since, after Mick Bolton's departure – one of the founders –, the scorpion Michael Schenker joined the band.

Placed at the opening of the work, “Natural Thing” is a classic hard rock, driven and with the guitar raging throughout the track like a squawking hen (not necessarily Dutch) dragged through the barnyard.

The acoustic instead opens the beautiful ballad “I’m A Loser”, then taken by the hand by the blonde and the mighty bass of Pete Way, accompanied by the colorful piano of Danny Peyronel (debuting with the British lineup and a capable composer – it is precisely his the wonderful “Martian Landscape”), almost perfect for a track of this tenor – the bridge before the final solo is quite something.

The hard tones return with the fast “Can You Roll Her”, where the Teuton is whiny as always in emphasizing the chorus and very incisive in the solo.

The following track, without wanting to sound blasphemous nor shout miracle, is simply – in my judgment – one of the most beautiful ballads ever written: the pulsating keyboards and then the crazy harpsichord, the arpeggios and the slow guitar solos and an emotional singing make “Belladonna” a dazzling piece; one of those few truly goosebump-inducing tracks.

It goes back to conventional (but who cares) with “Reasons Love”, a really incisive track that manages to be particularly melodic: the irresistible riff of the Lower Saxony guitarist.

Peyronel returns as the protagonist in the beautiful (and still his, darn it!) “Highway Lady”: the piano reprise after the sharp chorus is a little gem; it will be an entirely personal judgment, but the keyboard (now a permanent instrument in UFO after the introduction in the previous “Force It,” where it was played by Chick Churchill, ex-“Ten Years After”) proves once again to be an often essential instrument even in hard rock, no doubt. Phil Mogg's singing is also very beautiful, one of the pillars of the band and a dominant personality within it along with Schenker.

More anxious the following “On With The Action,” where the talented Andy Parker’s drums launch into a heavy stride; also the refrain, decidedly in dark tones, with its mechanical repetition of the title lets you grasp the abrupt change of atmosphere compared to the joyful previous track.

Another round, another run: a bit of cheerfulness returns for the rock ‘n’ roll of “A Fool In Love,” pleasant and conventional both in arrangement and lyrics; it’s okay.

And then, that keyboard reverb.

This is where the cycle closes: here is the return to snow and the wind that lashes the city near the Havel.

There is the return to my thoughts and the damned data that I have to analyze again.

There is the heart’s return to what awaits me at home.

Perhaps here, the Martian is me.

To my loved ones on Earth.